I PURELY COMMENTARY

Peace Oasis?

Continued from Page 2

practically terminated by the violence
of the intifada.
It should be indicated that
Benvenisti has advocated cessation of
establishing new settlements in
Samaria and Judea, that he urged con-
cessions to the Arabs and even sup-
ported some negotiations with the PLO.
His article is a confessional. It shows
how Jews like him who have lived with
the Arabs for decades and created what
they believed was a co-existence were
suddenly shocked into a realization that
many of their hopes for amity were
shattered. In this important confes-
sional, if we are to describe it as such,
Benvenisti revealed the frightening
horror that struck even the Jerusalem
where Teddy Kollek continues to labor
for the hoped for peaceful co-existence.
It must be studied seriously for an
understanding of the practices of the in-
tifada. Benvenisti reveals the following:
One day in December 1987,
my neighbor's children, soon to
be immortalized as the "children
of the stones!' launched their
uprising — against us, against
their parents, against their own
political leaders.
We still wanted to believe
that neighborly relations, so
diligently fostered, would pre-
vent the fire from spreading to
us. They may have good reasons
to riot in refugee camps, we told
ourselves, but not in Jerusalem,
the model of co-existence, and
certainly not on my own Ein
Rogel Stret.
That illusion died, too. One
morning I stood on the Hill of
Evil Council, my back to the
panoramic view of the city, be-
ing interviewed by a television
crew "on the situation!' Sudden-
ly there were explosions. I turn-
ed and saw rising columns of
black and white smoke, and
then the familiar pantomime:
Children throwing rocks,
soldiers with clubs and tear gas
charging downhill after them,
children disappearing behind
stone walls while another group
emerges from another alley.
But there was something dif-
ferent this time: it was happen-
ing less than a stone's throw
from my home. I turned back
and, unaware the crew was still
filming, shouted in fury: "If they
harm my family I'll be the first
to take a club and break their
bones!"
When my liberal friends
heard my outburst they were
aghast: "You condone,
legitimize, beating and bone-
breaking aimed at terrorizing
the Palestinians!' they said.
Later, my soldier son return-
ed home for the weekend, and I
overheard him talking with his
pals: "They threw rocks at us,
spit in our faces, cursed our
mothers, and challenged us to
catch them. We got mad, chased
them and broke their ribs."
How easy, I thought, to sit far
away, among your own kind,
and analyze the conflict in
clinical terms .. .

38

One evening I was sitting in
my office when my daughter
phoned me: the Arabs had built
a barricade across Ein Rogel
Street. She seemed concerned.
I called the police and rush-
ed home, arriving at the bar-
ricade — the usual heap of
stones and over-turned, burning
garbage carts — just as the
military jeeps pulled up.
What followed was familiar:
soldiers banged on doors and
windows, ordering my Arab
neighbors out to dismantle the
obstacle. As they came out —
grown men, dressed in pajamas
— I joined them, walking with
them to the barricade and lifting
together the largest stones. The
officer, busy detaining two
young Arabs for questioning,
did not approve: "What are you
doing?" he said. "You didn't do
it."
"Neither did. they," I
answered.
"But they are Arabs," he
retorted.
"Yes," I answered, "but also
my neighbors:'
The prospects for tranquility are
and remain grave. Nevertheless, we do
not abandon hope. Kollek doesn't.
Benvenisti doesn't and won't. Hopeful-
ly the program of Givat Haviva just
outlined will gain adherents in Israel
with the encouragement of American
Jewry. It is such aims in Arab set-
tlements as well as in Jewish
neighborhoods that could vitalize co-
existence aspirations.
Presently what is offered by Givat
Haviva sounds like a dream. Because
the aim is to erase the hatreds, even a
dream must not be rejected and certain-
ly not ridiculed. The minutest rejection
of the fifth column threat is urgent. If
the seeds of the dream will bear fruit,
we'll be ready to applaud the task. Let
it be treated as a blessing to be fulfill-
ed. What a pity that in the interim we
must remain vigilant for the security of
Israel!

Gerald Ford

seen or heard. They needed something
sensational- to call attention to
themselves, with unique exceptions, of
course.
I could not have known Tom Mar-
shall, President Woodrow Wilson's vice
president. But I was always intrigued
by a message which keeps him
memorable in his generation. He ex-
pressed a sentiment for an important
American urgency when he said:
"What this country needs is a good
five cent cigar" Here is an ideal that
needed attainment. It created glory for
the VP personification. No one has yet
tried to wipe this definitive sentiment
from recorded American history.

Page In History
For William Haber

w

illiam Haber has left legacies
that fill volumes of American
and Jewish experiences in
modern times. A special page in that
record will always be entitled Professor
William Haber as a tribute to one of the
great personalities of our time.

Universities in this country and in
Israel treated his academic devotions
with great respect and admiration. The
University of Michigan benefitted from
his services for half a century and his
students, numbering in the many hun-
dreds, always speak with gratitude for
the inspiration they gained from him.
lb the Hebrew University, where
numerous scholarships and a cultural
department bear his name, he gave
guidance that proved valuable during
challenging periods in Israel's
experience.
He had an historic role as adviser
to General Lucius Clay in the redemp-
tion of survivors from the Nazi terror
when they were provided temporary
shelter in the displaced persons camps.
The thousands who were rescued
always speak with gratitude for his
compassionate labors. General Clay's
memoirs pay tribute to him for his
valor.
As world leader in ORT he gave
substance to life-preserving by en-
couraging studies that directed
thousands in the movement's care to
pursue creative and productive careers.
He gave substance to Zionist
ideology with his support of the Jewish
National Fund and there is a William
and Fanny Haber JNF Forest in Israel
honoring the distinguished couple.
The list of Bill Haber's
achievements fills volumes and his
biography is one of the most fascinating
life records of Jewish personalities of
our time.
Teacher, public lecturer, raconteur
— Bill Haber's charm as storyteller will
never be forgotten by the thousands
who were privileged to hear him and to
meet with him.
It is the manner in which he in-
spired the hundreds of audiences he ad-
dressed in hundreds of communities in
this country, in Israel, in Canada and
several other countries that leaves
recollections filled with debts to him for
all he has achieved.
Professor William Haber is, indeed,
a "Page in World History."

4

4

Vice Presidents

Continued from Page 2

positive alignments with Zionism and
Israel.
Henry Wallace will remain un-
forgettable in the memories about vice
presidents. He was not apologetic about
being what has recently been describ-
ed as card carrying liberals. He was an
avowed friend of Frank Murphy and
both would today be among those who
would reject hiding under conservative
labels.
LadyBird Johnson echoed the sense
of justice that was advocated by Lyndon
Johnson as vice president, an attitude
he adhered to as U.S. senator. Both
Johnsons fraternized with Israelis at a
time when such friendship needed ac-
claim. Johnson, as senator, was among
those who admonished President-
Dwight Eisenhower, during the 1956
Sinai campaign, not to impose sanc-
tions on Israel, as had been threatened
during the dispute.
Vice presidents were not always

—4

co 0

Dr. William Haber

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 1989

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